Here are four simple tactics for maintaining equilibrium when you attend art events, like openings and juried shows, and find yourself surrounded by talented artists and their excellent works:

1. Focus on the positives, enjoy the camaraderie, allow yourself the luxury of not thinking about your usual chores, tasks, and responsibilities, and consider it a vacation with (and not from) your art-making by taking the opportunity to make some art.

2. Remember that comparisons are unnecessary and unhelpful. A thought to think that might serve you is, “I don’t compare myself to others.” Have that be a rule of thumb. Museums and galleries are filled with excellent art and there’s no reason to turn that undeniable truth into self-criticism or self-denigration. Do your own work, intend to improve, and skip the comparisons.

3. Be smart and savvy when you get home and make sure to get right to your art. Because it’s easy for resistance to build up after such events, and because we’re also burdened by having to catch up on all the tasks that got left undone, very often we lose a week of working—and then a month—and then longer. Make sure to get right back to making art as soon as you get home or as soon after getting home as is humanly possible.

4. Maybe take a little personal inventory and see what you learned from your attendance. Did you perhaps discover that you’d like to make some subject matter changes, try your hand at a new technique, or even investigate a new medium? If so, then take coming home as the opportunity to do exactly that. Don’t just pine for some change; actually make it!

It would be a shame if you stopped attending such events and missed out on visiting with your tribe just because the negative emotions seemed a little too hard to handle. Your better bet: realize that such emotions may arise and that you have some tactics in place for handling them.

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